Belfast City Council is to spend almost £12 million on extending its cemetery provision.

Suitable sites being considered include Nutts Corner and Lisleen.

The council had planned to develop a cemetery at Drumbeg but it was revealed at last night's monthly Parks and Leisure Committee meeting the soil was deemed unsuitable.

A hydrogeological analysis found the land at the Drumbeg B site, between Quarterlands Road and the M1 motorway, was "unlikely to be suitable" for burials.

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The news will come as a relief to residents of Drumbeg who have campaigned against a cemetery in the area.

Lagan Valley MP Jeffrey Donaldson said: "I understand that tests on the site confirmed what we had been saying: that this site was totally unsuitable given its proximity to the River Lagan and the high water level in the ground.

"The Drumbeg Residents' Association have been very active in campaigning against this and I'm sure they will be delighted with this outcome and relieved they are not going to have this development imposed on them."

At the meeting last night council members also gave permission for Translink to erect a security fence at Balmoral Cemetery to prevent people gaining unauthorised access to an adjacent railway line.

(GK/JM)